Hearings on wind farm rules likely to run through autumn | Belvidere Daily Republican

 

Next up is the board’s Aug. 27 meeting, which will deal with other cases.

The next wind farm hearing will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 23, with about 12 more speakers yet to be heard. The process calls for each one to have a maximum of five minutes, with questions from the board and audience to follow.

If all of those speakers aren’t heard, the balance will be held over to the Oct. 22 hearing. At some point a recommendation will go to the county board for a final decision.

The hearing held July 23 lasted more than three hours, with two speakers being heard…..

 

Mainstream is proposing a setback of 3.1 times the tip height of the tower, now estimated at 529 feet, from the property line, with a possible waiver to 1,200 feet.

A non-participating property would have a setback of 1.1 times the tip height of the tower, with a waiver possible to 1.1 times the blade length.

The setback would be 1.1 times the tip height from roads and utilities, including pipelines, measured from the utility, not the easement.

Restricted landing areas would have a 3,000-foot setback from the end of the runway, with Poplar Grove Airport having a five-mile buffer. There would be a 1½-mile setback from all municipalities, including nearby Sharon, Wis.

Click on the following to read all of the story:  Hearings on wind farm rules likely to run through autumn | Belvidere Daily Republican

First-time, non-violent felony offenders may get a second chance in Boone - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

 

The offender will then appear before a panel of community members. After the group interviews the offender, the panel will recommend conditions that must be met to complete the program. These conditions may include completing community service, obtaining a G.E.D., agreeing to random drug screens, becoming employed and paying restitution to the victim.

Once the conditions are met, the case will be dismissed. If they aren’t, the felony charge will be prosecuted in court.

Read the entire blog posting by clicking on the following:  First-time, non-violent felony offenders may get a second chance in Boone - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Public Hearing on renewal of Byron Nuclear will be scheduled soon.

 

NRC Announces Hearing Opportunity for License Renewal of Exelon's Byron and Braidwood Nuclear Stations
LCG, July 25, 2013--The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced yesterday the opportunity to request an adjudicatory hearing on Exelon Generation Company's application to renew the operating licenses of the Byron and Braidwood nuclear power plants, which are located in Illinois. If the licenses are extended, nearly 2,700 MW of non-carbon emitting generating capacity will survive for another 20 years.
Exelon filed the application on May 29, and the NRC staff has determined the application is sufficiently complete to allow the staff to formally docket the application and commence its technical and environmental reviews.
Exelon filed the application to renew and extend the operating licenses for an additional 20 years of operation. The current operating licenses for Braidwood expire on October 17, 2026, for Unit 1 and December 18, 2027, for Unit 2; the licenses for Byron expire October 31, 2024, for Unit 1 and November 6, 2026, for Unit 2.
The Braidwood Nuclear Station, with a capacity of 2,360 MW, is Exelon's newest nuclear power plant and is located about 60 miles southwest of Chicago. The Byron Nuclear Station is located about 110 miles west of Chicago and has a net generating capacity of 2,336 MW.
Both stations include two pressurized-water reactors.
Exelon submitted a single application to cover both plants due to the similarities in the systems, structures and components of each that are analyzed in a license renewal review.
The NRC stated that requests for a hearing on the application must be filed by September 23.

LCG Consulting - EnergyOnline / NRC Announces Hearing Opportunity for License Renewal of Exelon's Byron and Braidwood Nuclear Stations

Is the current web posting for Appointments at Boone County completely out of date?

Current Appointment Openings:

The following are volunteer Boards of the County that have vacancies:

Interested parties are asked to send a letter and resume expressing your interest and qualifications to Boone County Board Chairman Bob Walberg, 1212 Logan Ave., Suite 102, Belvidere, IL 61008.  Please respond by April 26, 2013 to assure being considered.

Boone County Board of Review

2 vacancies for a 2-year term that will expire June 1, 2015

(Note:- Per statute, one person must be of the Republican Party and one person must be of the Democratic Party.  If selected, Board members must attain the credentials established by the Illinois Property Tax Code within (1) year of taking office.)

Boone County Zoning Board of Appeals

1 vacancy for a 5-year term that will expire June 1, 2018

(Note:- Per statute, only one person from a township can serve on this Board; therefore, anyone interested in serving on this Board must be from Flora, Belvidere, LeRoy, Spring, or Poplar Grove Township.)

Boone County Agricultural Conservation Easement & Farmland Protection Commission

1 vacancy for a 3-year term that will expire June 1, 2016

Boone County Ethics Commission

3 vacancies for a 1-year term that will expire June 30, 2014

(Note:- Per statute, two persons must be of the Republican Party and one person must be of the Democratic Party.)

Boone County Historical Museum District Board of Trustees

1 vacancy for a 5-year term that will expire June 30, 2018

Boone County Conservation District

1 vacancy for a 5-year term that will expire June 30, 2018

Boone County Board of Health

4 vacancies for a 3-year term that will expire July 1, 2016

Community Building Complex Committee

2 vacancies for a 3-year term that will expire July 1, 2016

(Note: 1 person must be a representative of the Boone County Board and 1 person must be a representative of a community organization)

Interested parties are asked to send a letter and resume expressing your interest and qualifications to Boone County Board Chairman Bob Walberg, 1212 Logan Ave., Suite 102, Belvidere, IL 61008.  Please respond by May 24, 2013 to assure being considered

The above is taken today from:  http://www.boonecountyil.org/page/employment-opportunities

Obama to propose 'grand bargain' on corporate tax rate, infrastructure | Reuters

Check out the details after the speech but hear is preview.

Obama wants to cut the corporate tax rate of 35 percent down to 28 percent and give manufacturers a preferred rate of 25 percent. He also wants a minimum tax on foreign earnings as a tool against corporate tax evasion and increased use of tax havens.

The new twist is that in exchange for his support for a corporate tax reduction, he wants money generated by the tax overhaul to be used on a mix of proposals such as funding infrastructure projects like repairing roads and bridges, improving education at community colleges, and promoting manufacturing, senior administration officials said.

Obama's proposal would generate a one-time source of revenue, for example, by reforming depreciation or putting a fee on accumulated foreign earnings.

Click on the following for more details:  Obama to propose 'grand bargain' on corporate tax rate, infrastructure | Reuters

Rockford homebuilders, state fire marshal at odds over sprinklers - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

By Alex Gary and GateHouse Media Illinois

Matkaitis said modern home-building materials are more lightweight and prone to collapse before firefighters arrive. Sprinklers, said Matkaitis, would buy homeowners and firefighters time….

There are significant disagreements on the cost. The fire marshal’s office puts the estimate at $1.69 per square foot. Builders say the figure is closer to $3.50 and could be has high as $8.50 per square foot.

Read more: http://www.rrstar.com/news/x853693270/Rockford-homebuilders-state-fire-marshal-at-odds-over-sprinklers#ixzz2aRFEMIsr

Mineral Rich Australia May Contain World’s Next Major Oil Find | MND: Your Daily Dose of Counter-Theory

By John C.K. Daly

amount of shale oil in the as yet untapped 30,000 square mile Arckaringa Basin surrounding Coober Pedy ranging from 3.5 billion to a mind boggling 233 billion barrels of oil.

If the upper end estimates are correct then it means that the Arckaringa Basin is six times larger than the Bakken, seventeen times the size of the Marcellus formation, and 80 times larger than the Eagle Ford U.S. shale deposits.

To put the potential of the Arckaringa Basin in context, Saudi Arabian reserves are estimated at 263 billion barrels.

Click on the following for more details:  Mineral Rich Australia May Contain World’s Next Major Oil Find | MND: Your Daily Dose of Counter-Theory